The Diary [PA] (CD - 1994)

On THE DIARY, rapper Scarface creates a powerful, almost operatic progression of characters, portraying the different roles as they derive from the rapper's own persona. So he speaks either as Scarface or as Brad Jordan (his real name), as the cold-blooded gangsta or as a shrewd, compassionate observer of the mean streets of warring colors, doomed youth and innocents caught in the crossfire.

THE DIARY is a graphic, powerful, unwavering look at the day to day violence that has become brutally commonplace for far too many urban citizens, as underscored by the romantic strings, martial rhythm parts and automatic gunfire of "Intro," and the funky kill-or-be-killed braggadocio of "The White Sheet," a gangsta anthem with a series of menacing, deadly hooks.

Scarface anticipates all the usual criticism such a hard-edged approach would engender. He responds to such acrimony with indignation of his own on "Hand Of The Dead Body" (with Ice Cube). But a more telling response comes on "Mind Playin' Tricks," where Scarface delineates his own simple aspirations for family and self, and on the poignant, chilling "I Seen A Man Die," where he underscores a litany of tragedy and death by observing that "I never seen a man cry until I seen a man die...If you ain't at peace with God you need to patch it up...Here lies a man who ain't scared to die, may he rest in peace..." minimize